The Rev. Roy M. Maddrey, founder of West Phila. church

Roy M. Maddrey

By Walter F. Naedele, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: September 21, 2012

The Rev. Roy M. Maddrey, 92, founder of Enon Chapel Baptist Church at 54th and Sansom Streets in West Philadelphia, died Monday, Sept. 10, at Heartland Hospice House of Delaware in Wilmington. He formerly resided in West Philadelphia.

Mr. Maddrey was president of the West Philadelphia Ministerial Forum from 1971 to 1974.

He led several outreach ministries, including visits to prisons.

"He was very popular at Graterford," the state prison in Montgomery County, his daughter, Wanda Maddrey-Randolph, said. "That was one that constantly had him back.

"He would go there early," at 6 a.m. on Sundays, "so he could be back at his own church" for regular morning services, she said.

"He would take some of the young ministers with him for training" when he visited prisons such as Graterford.

Born in Murfreesboro, N.C., Mr. Maddrey served in the Navy during World War II and entered the ministry in 1956, when he was 36, after selling insurance.

In 1961, he and 12 members of his congregation began Enon Mission in the home of the late deacon Edward Walker in West Philadelphia.

He established the church at 56th Street and Chester Avenue before moving it to its current location, his daughter said.

Mr. Maddrey graduated with honors from Manna Bible Institute in North Philadelphia in 1972 and earned his doctorate of divinity at Seashore Bible College in Lakewood, N.J., in 1975.

Among his outreach ministries, his daughter said, was a regular religious broadcast on a Philadelphia radio station.

Besides his daughter, Mr. Maddrey is survived by sons Roy, Paul, and David, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Gussie, his wife of 38 years, died in 1975. His second wife, Geneva, died in 2009.

A viewing was set from 9 to 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 21, at Sharon Baptist Church, 3955 Conshohocken Ave., before a 10 a.m. funeral there. Burial will be in Washington Crossing National Cemetery.